Aboriginal & Northern Research
SSHRC's Aboriginal Research Pilot Program to Document 13,000 Years of Mi'kmaw History
Past Annual Reports:
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007 | 2006 |
Annual Report 2012
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A major focus this year has been on the research and development of the Pjila鈥檚i Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i: Mi鈥檏maw Place Names Digital Atlas and Website Project. The vision of Pjila鈥檚i Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i is to document and to raise public awareness of approximately 13,000 years of Mi鈥檏maw presence within Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i, the ancient landscape of the Mi鈥檏maq. The project was initiated by the Federal-Nova Scotia-Mi鈥檏maq Tripartite Forum, Culture and Heritage Committee, and is being carried out in partnership with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi鈥檏maq (CMM), Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i All Points Services (MAPS), Parks Canada, Atlantic Region, and the Nova Scotia Museum. Along with our continued funding from a $250,000 SSHRC Aboriginal Grant (2010-2013), I was successful in receiving an additional $100,000 through SSHRC鈥檚 Public Outreach Grant (2011-2012). With this funding, as well as supplemental funding through the Tripartite Forum, SMU, and a number of youth and student employment grants, twelve internships have been created for Mi鈥檏maw interns over the past two years. This summer, four Mi鈥檏maw youth鈥擱aymond Sewell, Kachina Sack, Matt Meuse, and Justin Lewis鈥� three of whom are SMU students, received inter-disciplinary training to assist in the research and development of the digital atlas and website. Under the guidance of Mi鈥檏maw linguist, Bernie Francis, we have fully translated and transliterated over 600 Mi鈥檏maw place names into the Smith-Francis orthography, and geo-referenced them for the digital atlas. We are targeting March 2013 as the launch date for the initial website.
I was also successful, with assistance from Tim Bernard of CMM, Roger Lewis of the N.S. Museum, and geomatics consultant, William Jones, in receiving Tripartite Forum funding to undertake research on Mi鈥檏maw Cultural Landscapes. This research is intended to re-visit the delineation of Mi鈥檏maw traditional districts. A third, smaller, project funded through Dr. Twohigs office at the GRI, has allowed me to hire one intern to research the history of the Grand Council, Shubenacadie District as part of the GRI鈥檚 MOU with members of the Grand Council of the Shubenacadie District. Justin Lewis is currently working with me on this research.
Though my International Polar Year Grant (IPY) and the SSHRC Aboriginal Grant held in partnership with the Innu Nation of Labrador, the Smithsonian Institution鈥檚 Arctic Research Centre, MUN, and the University of the Arctic were completed in 2011, I have continued to work with a team of northern experts on the development of a curriculum per request of staff members of the Innu Nation. The purpose of this curriculum development is to work collaboratively with the Innu Nation to assist in their process of self-governance. The preliminary curriculum design has been submitted to Richard Nuna of the Innu Nation Environment Office for approval by the Grand Chief and Council. As a co-applicant on Dr. Tony Charles鈥� successful Coastal Conservation Research Network (CCRN) Partnership Grant, I invited the Innu Nation onto the project as one of the two Canadian First Nations鈥� communities to develop research programs and policies concerning coastal conservation. I will be working closely with my Innu colleagues and the CCNR project team to develop conservation policies and programs. The grant also has an educational component that will support our long-term (since 2001) educational initiative with the Innu Nation.
In terms of publications, I am pleased to announce the completion of my and Bernie Francis鈥� book, 鈥淭he Language of this Land, Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i鈥�, published in March, 2012 by Cape Breton University Press. The book has received excellent reviews and is in its second printing. I am also a co-author on an article with Dr. Andrew Trant and Dr. John Jacobs, entitled, 鈥淭eaching and learning about climate change with Innu Environmental Guardians,鈥� published in Polar Geography. Both Dr. Trant and Dr. Jacobs worked with me on developing the Climate Change training with and for the Innu Nation Environmental Guardians 2008-2010. Additionally, I delivered a paper at the American Anthropological Society鈥檚 Annual Meeting in Montreal, November 16-20, 2011, entitled, 鈥淏eing Educated to Death: Ironies and Mixed Messages of Education for First Nations in the Canadian North鈥�, in Montreal as part of a session, Aboriginal Dilemmas in the Canadian Settler State: Anthropology, Law, and Sovereignty, convened by Christopher Roy, Princeton University. I also represented SMU at the University of the Arctic鈥檚 Members Council meeting in Tromso, Norway June 12-14, 2012, and attended the Conference Board of Canada鈥檚 Conference on 鈥淐anada鈥檚 North and Beyond鈥�, Oct. 11-13, 2012, both funded through the Office of the V.P. Academic.